New Xbox Controller Accessories for FPS Games

[Dirtman73]

[citation][nom]amk09[/nom]that sir is the strangest set up I've ever seen... move forward RMB? Really? Doesn't make any sense when trying to "one up" the wasd setup...just saying.[/citation]

I played that way for years, and ironically my kill ratio in MP games was outstanding. Once I switched to WASD for movement (which took me months to learn, BTW), my accuracy plummeted. Maybe I'm just getting old...

 

[guardianangel42]

[citation][nom]Master Exon[/nom]The controller's "ease of use" (more accurately, simplicity) and "efficiency (which is imaginary or inane at best) do not make up for it's shortcomings. The controller lacks both the keyboard's raw flexibility and the mouse's precision, and can't make up for the lack of either.But your point is wrong. The keyboard actually has more like 14 buttons in easy reach of WASD. The keyboard has over 100 keys. Not including options like Shift+E, Shift+RightMouse. The keyboard's flexibility can't be equivocally substituted with the convenience of using less fingers on half the buttons. As for mice with 7 additional function buttons, on such a mouse is placed functions that are already, but also, on the keyboard. This does more for the flexibility of symbiotic relationship, as the player can press whichever button would be most efficient at the moment.[/citation]
14 buttons that must be used to do the same functions as what's available on a controller. That's my point about efficiency, it takes me one button press and a push to do the same thing it takes the keyboard three button presses to do, ie crouch and walk diagonally. The Dpad handles the functions of the 123456 string of buttons in less actual buttons.

Programmed correctly, the controller does everything your left hand does with less effort and less button presses. If you don't think that fits the definition of efficiency then I can't really help you understand.

 

[excidium]

[citation][nom]guardianangel42[/nom]That's my point about efficiency, it takes me one button press and a push to do the same thing it takes the keyboard three button presses to do, ie crouch and walk diagonally. The Dpad handles the functions of the 123456 string of buttons in less actual buttons.Programmed correctly, the controller does everything your left hand does with less effort and less button presses. If you don't think that fits the definition of efficiency then I can't really help you understand.[/citation]

Efficient, yes... but why does that really matter? Ill agree that the xbox controller is comfortable, but it doesn't come close to what my keyboard can do.

Load up your favorite Halo with default controller settings and I would love to see you reload your gun and look around in any direction at the same time. Or how about switch your gun, or jump! That is inefficient. You are using fewer appendages to do the same work, but you are doing it slowly.

When you take away options you take away control. Efficiency is also lost in the jumble. You may be doing less "work" from time to time, but over the long run, you lose productivity and efficiency due to constant correction ( when I hit my forward key I know I am moving forward ONLY and not forward+slightly left ).

 

[of the way]

You guys are all comparing ultraviolet light to bad breath. Console gaming and PC gaming are not made to be equivalent. The one thing I've always hated about PC gaming (apart from the fact that I've never had the money to get a nice computer) is that it isn't a level playing field. People aren't playing with the same equipment. Casual gamers might not have macro keys on their keyboards etc etc. You know what you're getting when you game on a console. Little to no control customization, and whatever other 'negatives' you want to put on it, but console gaming is amazing at what it does. And PC gaming also obviously is amazing at what it does.

 

[HavoCnMe]

Ok for people with a hand defect, yes. People without defects, LEARN TO PLAY THE P.O.S. YOU WANTED, THE WAY IS WAS MEANT! or BUY THE A+ Book, PC and LEARN TO GAME. JMO

 

[decepticon]

Controllers are the reason why I refuse to play FPS's on consoles anymore. Consoles are great for adventure games, platformers and maybe 3rd person shooters (M/K still own these games too).

 

[awood28211]

OK, who noticed the "breath" scene? The boy blows air toward the controller and as the button moves the man lifts his finger off the controller? Seriously? While I would consider something like this... I can't buy a blatant lie.

 

[Guest]

So if nobody could beat you if you use this mystical and magical device. What happens when you play against someone with the same device? Oh!! I feel the world collapsing now!

Total fake, I wish the paid me to do this ad too

 

[guardianangel42]

[citation][nom]excidium[/nom]Efficient, yes... but why does that really matter? Ill agree that the xbox controller is comfortable, but it doesn't come close to what my keyboard can do.Load up your favorite Halo with default controller settings and I would love to see you reload your gun and look around in any direction at the same time. Or how about switch your gun, or jump! That is inefficient. You are using fewer appendages to do the same work, but you are doing it slowly.When you take away options you take away control. Efficiency is also lost in the jumble. You may be doing less "work" from time to time, but over the long run, you lose productivity and efficiency due to constant correction ( when I hit my forward key I know I am moving forward ONLY and not forward+slightly left ).[/citation]

I guess at this point it comes down to a difference of opinion. I did say that mouse was superior to the controller because of aiming, and that extends to reloading. There is also the speed issue, it is hard to control a game at the sensitivity of a mouse, trust me, I've tried with Xpadder and to a degree got it to work.

My point is that the keyboard is an inefficient use of functions. Yes you have more options, I'm not disputing that, but you do sacrifice efficiency, and personally, that lost efficiency is more detrimental than the added functions can balance. I look at the cost-benefit of the keyboard and see a handful of extra buttons and a large amount of waste. Many functions added, like access to the dev console and quicksaving, lie outside the in-game experience and while useful and efficient, aren't part of controlling the game.

I haven't used the lean functions much, so I can't attest to their usefulness, and on Xbox at least, communication is always on or off (with a bit of added customization), so C and T as means to communicate are additional inefficiencies.

I like options just as much as the next tech junkie, but I look at the keyboard as a control medium for FPS's and just see options for the sake of options. I would love to have the amount of customization on Xbox as I do with Xpadder because that allows me to program each individual button on my controller in specific functions and as specific macro types, but until then I still believe that the controller is the best for button functions and direction, mouse is the best for aiming in just about anything. With practice, you don't really have the Walk Forward and Left problem, at least not when you are running. You learn the sweet spot and it comes naturally thereafter.

Also, I always use sticky crouch when I can in games, that frees me to operate the Dpad as well as move, so it does come down to customization and adaption.

And FYI, console gamers hate auto aim just as much as you do. I hate it when, in Mass Effect or something else, I put my reticle on a guy in order to line up my sniper shot, and it zooms in on a totally different guy. In CoD some guys use it religiously, and I think it takes out the variable of skill when you can auto aim, kill, auto aim, kill, rinse and repeat.

Honestly, I think developers short change the amount of functions they could program buttons to do on a console and have gamers be able to adapt. In all honesty, I could program my controller to have every button have a tap or hold function, giving me a total of 32 buttons, and still be able to play just fine. So I think it is stupid when devs make games to cater to the console crowd's lack of buttons, ie making a bad console port for PC gamers, when we can adapt to a lot more than Halo controls (by far the simplest control scheme of any shooter I have played). On console, Halo is essentially the beginners Shooter. There is only really one button that does more than one function and that's X. Use and Reload. There's no weapon customization, no armor customization, no team direction, no tactics, nothing. It's the first FPS I ever played all the way through, and its the first my little sister ever played. For those wanting to get into shooters, I tell them to play Halo and move up from there. Their control scheme is about as rudimentary as you can get, with maybe Portal's controls being more basic.

 

[ayeohx]

I want one. My hands are damaged and this looks like it would help a lot.